Salted Caramel Cookie Dough Cups

by Natalie

Over the past few months I’ve made homemade peanut butter cups and cookie butter cups, but I have to say, these salted caramel cookie dough cups are the best yet! Stuffed with eggless cookie dough and silky salted caramel, every bite is as dreamy as the last. It’s impossible not to fall in love with this combo!

I’ve been wanting to make these for quite some time now, but just finally got around to making a batch of salted caramel a couple days ago. Now I’m wondering why the heck I waited so darn long! These things are AMAZING. So amazing that they were gone in just 48 hours. Yep, all 18 of ’em. Don’t worry, we resisted eating 4 of them so we could share them with friends. I’m pretty sure they were equally smitten.

So… are you ready to see just how easy these are to make?! Ok- first things first, whip up your eggless cookie dough and get that in the fridge. Since these cups are mini (aka made in mini cupcake liners), I suggest using mini chocolate chips. They just seem to work better when you’re making such small little balls of dough. While that’s chilling, make the salted caramel sauce. Don’t be intimidated, just breathe and follow the instructions. It’s actually pretty easy, and once you’ve done it, you’ll want to make it again and again. It’s finger lickin’ good! Let the caramel cool for about 10 minutes so it doesn’t melt the cookie dough.

While it finishes cooling, use a double boiler to melt your chocolate for the cups. Or you can live on the edge a little like I did and nuke it in the microwave on medium power for a minute or so, stirring every 15 seconds ;) You want the chocolate to be nice and smooth. If you want the chocolate to be extra firm when it cools, you can toss in a little bit of coconut oil, but you’ll have to work quickly to assemble the cups. Speaking of assembling them, using a spoon, finger or pastry brush, coat the bottom and the sides of each liner. Then roll little balls of cookie dough (about 1 tsp. in size), pancake them in the palm of your hand and then place them in the cups. Spoon a layer of salted caramel over top, then cover with the remaining chocolate. Since I’m a huge sea salt lover, I sprinkled a bit of Maldon finishing salt over top. I know places like Williams-Sonoma and Sur La Table carry the large boxes of flakes (I think a lot of grocery stores do too), but Sur La Table sells these mini tins of them and I’m obsessed!!!

All that’s left to do is let these babies chill in the refrigerator for a few hours until the set up. Really it shouldn’t take more than an hour, but I like to give them 2 to be on the safe side. If you can resist devouring a whole batch of these within 48 hours, kudos to you! We were clearly quite fond of these little candies and I think you will be too! Enjoy :)

Cookie dough topped with salted caramel and hugged by silky smooth chocolate. All of my favorite things in one little cup!

Author: Natalie

Yield: 18 mini cups

Ingredients

Cookie dough:

5 tbsp. salted butter, melted

⅓ c. light brown sugar, packed

¼ c. all-purpose flour

½ tsp. vanilla extract

¾ c. mini semi-sweet chocolate chips

Salted Caramel Sauce:

½ c. granulated sugar

3 tbsp. salted butter, room temperature

¼ c. heavy whipping cream, room temperature

½ tsp. salt (I prefer non-iodized sea salt)

Chocolate coating:

1 c. milk chocolate chips

1 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions

Line two mini muffin/cupcake tins with 18 liners, set aside.

In a small mixing bowl combine the melted butter, brown sugar, flour, and vanilla. Using a spatula mix ingredients until combined, then fold in mini chocolate chips. Cover and place in the refrigerator to chill while preparing the salted caramel sauce.

To make the caramel sauce, heat the granulated sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat, stirring constantly to prevent burning. The sugar will begin to form clumps and will eventually melt and turn brown. Once the sugar has melted completely, add the butter. The mixture will bubble, continue stirring for 2 minutes or until the butter has completely melted, then add the cream. Boil for 1 minute then remove from the heat and add the salt. Allow the caramel to cool for 8-10 minutes before using.

Meanwhile, Using a double boiler on the stovetop, (or a saucepan with a bowl set over it) add water and set over low heat. Pour chocolate in and stir continuously until the chocolate has melted. Remove from stove and using a pastry brush, spoon or your fingers, cover the bottom of the cupcake liners. You'll want a pretty good amount because generally the bottom has the most chocolate.

Remove the cookie dough from the refrigerator and roll into balls, then pat flat. Place the flattened cookie dough into each cupcake liner. Then spoon the caramel sauce over top, making sure to leave enough room in the liner to add the top layer of chocolate.Pour the remaining chocolate over the top of the caramel. To create an even top gently shake the pan on a flat surface or tap.

Place the tin into the refrigerator to chill for 2 hours or until the bottoms of the cups are set. Eat cold or bring to room temperature.

Notes

-The salted caramel sauce is a "half" recipe. You can double it and make a full recipe, then store the remainder of the caramel in an air-tight container (I like mason jars) for up to one month in the refrigerator.

It should be a 1/2 teaspoon. I’ve made this recipe at least 10 times and I’ve never found it too salty, but that’s a personal preference I guess. You could try adding a bit more cream or just adding 1/4 teaspoon of salt. Hope that helps!

I made two batches of these last night and they are amazing! I’ll definitely be making more of these. The chocolate did stick to the paper muffin liners much more than I expected though. Do you have any suggestions for that? And thanks for this great recipe!

I used little brown greaseproof ones that I ordered online (Bake It Pretty, Layer Cake Shop, Amazon), they have a slightly more waxy coating in the interior that prevents sticking. You could also try adding a little bit of coconut oil to the chocolate which will harden it a bit more, but you’ll have to work fast! Hope that helps, thanks for giving them a try!!